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  3. In prehistoric times brachiopods were one of the most abundant and diverse forms of life on Earth: more than 30,000 species of t

In prehistoric times brachiopods were one of the most abundant and diverse forms of life on Earth: more than 30,000 species of t

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问题     In prehistoric times brachiopods were one of the most abundant and diverse forms of life on Earth: more than 30,000 species of this chainlike creature have been cataloged from fossil records. Today brachiopods are not as numerous, and existing species are not well studied, partly because neither tile animal’ s fleshy inner tissue flor its shell has any commercial value. Moreover, in contrast to the greater diversity of the extinct species, the approximately 300 known surviving species are relatively, uniform in appearance. Many zoologists have interpreted this as a sign that the animal has been unable to compete successfully with other marine organisms in the evolutionary struggle.
    Several things, however, suggest that the conventional view needs revising. For example, the genus Lingula has an unbroken fossil record extending over more than half a billion years to the present.  Thus, if longevity is any measure, brachiopods are the moat successful organisms extant. Further, recent studies suggest that diversity among species is a less important measure of evolutionary success than is the ability to withstand environmental change, such as when a layer of clay replaces sand on the ocean bottom. The relatively greater uniformity among the existing brachiopod species may offer greater protection from environmental change and hence may reflect highly successful adaptive behavior.
    The adaptive advantages of uniformity for brachiopods can be seen by considering specialization, a process that occurs as a result of prolonged colonization of a uniform substrate. Those that can survive on many surfaces are called generalists, while those that can survive on a limited range of substrates are called specialists. One specialist species, for example, has valves weighted at the base, a characteristic that assures that the organism is properly positioned for feeding in mud and similar substrates; other species secrete glue allowing them to survive on the face of underwater cliffs. The fossil record demonstrates that most brachiopod lineages have followed a trend toward increased specialization. However, during periods of environmental instability, when a particular substrate to which a specialist species has adapted is no longer available, the species quickly dies out. Generalist, on the other hand are not dependent on a particular substrate, and are thus less vulnerable to environmental change. One study of the fossil record revealed a mass extinction of brachiopods following a change in sedimentation from chalk to clay. Of the 35 brachiopod species found in the chalk, only 6 survived in the clay, all of them generalists.
    As long as enough generalist species are maintained, and studies of arctic and subarctic seas suggest that generalists are often dominant members of the marine communities there, it seems unlikely that the phylum is close to extinction.
It can be inferred from the passage that many zoologists assume that a large diversity among species of a given class of organisms typically leads to which of the following?
选项 A、Difficulty in classification.
B、A discontinuous fossil record.
C、A greater chance of survival over time.
D、Numerical abundance.
答案C
解析 由第二段可知，最近研究表明，相对于物种的种类而言，生物对环境变化的适应能力更能使其在竞争中优胜劣汰，从而生存下来。所以由此推知，以往人们认为物种的多少对于生物的存活至关重要，故选C。
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